The women’s draw maintained its capacity to spring surprises as Maria
Sharapova, the French Open champion who had widely been expected to reach
the final here, failed to follow Grigor Dimitrov, her boyfriend, into the
quarter-finals. She was defeated 7-6, 4-6 6-4 by Angelique Kerber, who
reached the semi-final here two years ago, and produced a master class in
how to fight fire with fire in an absorbingly fierce contest.

It could perhaps be considered a compliment to her opponent that Sharapova’s
noise levels began at their highest notch. This was a real scrap from the
very start and as